DOZENS OF PEOPLE IN VIGIL FOR US TEMPLE SHOOTING VICTIMS

This article appears in today's Leicester Mercury (with a decent photo, which hasn't been posted on the website):

Dozens of people in vigil for US temple shooting victims

Dozens of people from various faiths gathered for a prayer vigil in memory of six people killed at a Sikh Gurdwara in the USA a week ago.

The service in Town Hall Square, Leicester, on Sunday night, was organised by Leicester Council of Faiths chairman Councillor Manjula Sood and secretary Councillor Inderjit Gugnani.

They organised the vigil as a way to commemorate the victims of the attack, as well as a way for Sikhs and non-Sikhs to stand together to bring about healing.

Coun Gugnani said: "We pray it doesn't happen again. But it happened. All we can do is turn it into a positive message for our friends in the community."

A 40-year-old Army veteran with links to the white-supremacist movement entered the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin and opened fire. Six people ranging in age from 39 to 84 lay dead. The suspect, Wade Michael Page, reportedly killed himself.

I posted a comment on the Mercury's website, under my own name, as follows:

Glad to see the Mercury cover this, but, as a strong, positive story expressing good relations between the diverse communities of our city, I'd have hoped that it would have attracted more attention. I was there, among a considerable number of people who were not Sikhs, but wanting to show solidarity and sympathy. The Mercury report doesn't mention that Jon Ashworth MP was in attendance and gave a short speech. There were more like 250 attendees at the height of the event. There's more detailed coverage of the vigil on various social media outlets, e.g. the Facebook page of Leicesterhire Sikh Alliance (www.facebook.com/LeicestershireSikhAlliance), the YouTube channel of Civic Leicester (http://www.youtube.com/user/CivicLeicester?feature=watch), the video report posted by Pukaar News (http://www.pukaarnews.com/vigil-held-after-us-shooting/2806/) and my blog post (http://equalitydiversityofficer.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/vigil-for-victims-of-wisconsin-gurdwara.html?spref=fb). 

WHY IS AN ESTATE OUT ON STREETS IN PROTEST?

This article appears in today's Leicester Mercury:

Why is an estate out on streets in protest?

It's an unlikely setting for an ongoing night-after-night street protest.

However, hundreds of people have been gathering in Thurncourt Road, on Leicester's Thurnby Lodge estate, for some weeks now to protest against an Islamic charity's plan to turn a disused Scout hut into a community centre and prayer room.

On Friday, the number of people taking part swelled towards the 400 mark – with about 50 police officers there to oversee it.

The Leicester Mercury has spoken to people on both sides of the debate and to the city council, which is working to resolve the dispute.

The building at the heart of this is the Scout hut in Nursery Road.

The Scout Association paid for the hut to be built in 1974 and it was a busy base for the movement for almost 30 years.

However, the decision to close it was taken 10 years ago.

Peter Hardy, the association's deputy district commissioner, said: "Unfortunately, the leaders who had given great service to the Thurnby Lodge group for many years decided to step down. We tried to find new leaders in the community but there was no response."

After its closure in May 2002, the building lay all but unused, apart from some occasional use by other groups.

It became the centre of the current dispute earlier this year when it became apparent that a charity, the As-Salaam Trust, had stepped forward and wanted to turn it into a community centre.

The trust indicated last week that it would open the centre to the wider community and indicated it would consider reviving the Scout group if there was sufficient local support.

Its members have been meeting at the neighbouring community centre in Thurncourt Road for the past two and a half years. Those meetings have been the focus of the recent protests – which have coincided with the holy month of Ramadan. Residents involved in the protests – some of which have lasted long into the night – insist their argument is with the city council, not the trust.

They believe local people's suggestions for other uses of the building – including a combination of boxing club, gym and dance studio – have not been taken seriously.

City mayor Sir Peter Soulsby and his team say they are talking to the people behind that proposal and hope to find a suitable venue for it in the same area.

The council said it contacted 100 community groups who previously said they needed a new base, to tell them the building could be available. As-Salaam came forward at that point.

The protesters also believe the proposed community centre would bring extra traffic to the area, particularly as it is in a narrow road which is also a bus route.

Maxine Williams, licensee of the neighbouring Stirrup Cup pub, has been at the centre of the group which is organising the protests. She said the protesters' anger was not directed at the Muslim group.

She said: "It all started when someone at the community centre got an e-mail about the Scout hut.

"When it became clear what was happening, we did the correct thing and put a petition forward because we wanted a say over what was happening in our community. There was no consultation and no notices put up in the street, so people felt they weren't being told what was going on."

The future of the Scout hut was to be discussed at the area's regular ward meeting last month. So many people turned up that the meeting was abandoned because it would have breached the building's capacity.

The abandonment of the meeting and the subsequent decision to cancel a ward councillors' surgery a few weeks later angered people.

Residents have said they will continue to stage their street protests, although last Friday's, which drew up to 400 people, was the "big one".

At times, between 30 and 50 police officers have been drafted in to oversee the protests. No arrests have been made. Vanessa McKinnon took part in Friday's protest.

The 40-year-old mum and grandmother to a one-year-old boy, said: "I didn't know that As-Salaam have been praying at the community centre for two and a half years but I can understand why they are looking for a permanent home. But people feel that they already have somewhere to meet.

"A lot of them are coming from far and wide to pray here. We feel there aren't enough things for young people on this estate and we need the council to do something about that.

"I can understand that some people from As-Salaam might be scared by the protests and that's why I have stood on the other side of the road when I've been down there because I don't want to intimidate anyone."

Protest organisers have told the Leicester Mercury they do not welcome the attentions of outside groups such as the British National Party and the English Defence League.

BNP leader Nick Griffin made an impromptu appearance on Friday evening and, reportedly, again yesterday morning. According to eyewitnesses he was greeted with indifference.

Another issue which has arisen is that unfounded rumours have begun circulating through the internet. These include a claim that the neighbouring Anglican Christ Church had been asked to cover its cross for fear of offending Muslims.

Canon David Monteith, Acting Archdeacon of Leicester, said: "There is no truth at all in the malicious rumour that the church was asked to cover the cross. The information is totally unfounded."

FEDERATION OF MUSLIM ORGANISATIONS RADIO SHOW ON EAVA FM

This morning I'm presenting the Interfaith Hour on Ramadan Radio, going out live on 102.5 FM and online at www.eava.com between 1000 and 1100. This is part of the schedule of programmes run by the Federation of Muslim Organisations during the Muslim month of fasting.

The hours in which FMO broadcast during Ramadan are donated by EAVA FM  Multilingual Radio. EAVA FM broadcasts in a variety of community languages including Arabic, Mandarin Chinese, Gujarati, Hindi, Ndebele, Punjabi, Shona, Somali and Urdu. English content is definitely a minority interest for the station and its listeners. I've been on EAVA FM once before, in April 2009, when I was a guest on the Andy Cooke Show (which I blogged here). The station is located in the Leicester Business Centre on Ross Walk, which runs parallel to Melton Road. The front of the Leicester Business Centre has been demolished and rebuilt since then, so I spend several minutes going back and forth on Ross Walk, looking for something that isn't there any more. By the time I give up and phone the studio for directions, it turns out I'm so close, someone in the Leicester Business Centre could have leant out of a window and waved me in! Some of the Radio Ramadan programmes are broadcast from the offices of the FMO in Highfields. I was originally told to ge ther, but the equipment at their offices isn't quite good enough to do programmes with a lot of speech content, so the venue was switched to permit a better quality broadcast.

I'm in the studio half an hour before the start of the show, which gives me time to chat with Dee, (Manager at EAVA FM), Ashokhbhai (who is presenting a Hindi programme which finishes just before 1000) and Ismael Bin-Sulaiman (AKA Izzy), producer of the Interfaith Hour. Dee dangles before me the possibility of the Council of Faiths having a weekly hour-long show on the station (dependent on us obtaining sponsorship for it). That's something worth following up. During this conversation, I learn that typical listening figures for the FMO's Ramadan broadcasts are around the 300,000 mark. Most of those listeners access the show online, through the FMO website. The largest concentration of listeners is in  Chicago. Who'd have guessed?

Luman Ali at the the FMO invited me to do this programme a couple of weeks ago. I've been given carte blanche to fill the hour with my choice of content (within reason), so I've put together a programme about how the other seven communities represented on Leicester Council of Faiths approach fasting. I've recorded five short interviews with a Buddhist, a Christian, a Hindu, a Jew and a Sikh, each one of them responding to my questions about how they think about and practise fasting. Following a belt-and-braces approach, I've brought those recordings to the studio in a variety of formats: one CD with the interviews saved as MP3 files; another CD with the interviews saved as data files; a memory stick with MP3 files; my laptop with MP3 and data files; even the handheld digital recorder that I used for the original interviews. I'm not taking any chances! Thankfully, the first of these formats works without any problems.

Each of the interviewees has something interesting and distinctive to say about their religious beliefs and practices on this topic, as well as their personal experience. I invited a Jain friend to contribute too but we couldn't arrange a recording session in the time we had available. Not for the first time, I present the Jain perspective (reading a brief extract from a published source), as well as speaking briefly on my own behalf as a Bahá'í. The recorded interviews are linked by a brief chat between me and Izzy, whom I prompt for a Muslim's response to some of the points raised in the recordings. I think it goes alright, though it's a little rushed toward the end. I fit in everything that I'd wanted to get in, which is good. And thanks to Suleman Nagdi, who sent an SMS to the station, wishing me luck, from a train en route to Manchester.

As I'm leaving the studio, two chaps are setting up for the next programme, which I'm told is a "requests show". What that means in this case is that listeners send in their requests (by email or SMS) for one of the presenters to chant verses from the Qur’án, Hadith or another Islamic source, to heighten the devotional experience during Ramadan. This is one of those moments where I'm grateful for the work I do, and how permits me insights into ways of living that would otherwise not be visible to me.

FUN AT CARNIVAL WAS RESTRICTED

This letter appears in today's Leicester Mercury:

Fun at carnival was restricted

I would like to share my thoughts with you regarding last Saturday's Caribbean Carnival.

It has been shrunk down to a small area of Victoria Park and had security Guantanamo Bay would have been proud of.

There were cameras watching everything.

I have attended the carnival since the year it began and have enjoyed the atmosphere and the freedom that it inspires.

This year was like something from George Orwell's 1984!

There were guards with metal detectors, searching bags and restricting alcohol to be taken into the site.

"Drink it before you go in," we were advised – by the security guards. So, cans of beer that would last all of the carnival were polished off in 10 minutes!

Better than taking it slowly over time!

Meanwhile, the official purveyors of beer onsite were charging £3 a can.

Mine were 95p from a shop!

Abbey Park music festival ended due to these draconian measures and I can see the carnival going down the same pan.

The site is a public park and a public open space.

Please Leicester City Council, don't tell me how to enjoy myself.

I will not be attending that prison they call Summer Sundae.

Phil Rowe, Knighton Fields

VEGAN FAIR SERVES UP A TREAT FOR VISITORS

This article appears in today's Leicester Mercury:

Vegan fair serves up a treat for visitors

A fair dedicated to vegetarian and vegan living welcomed scores of visitors.

More than 200 people attended the event at Avenue Primary School, in Avenue Road Extension, Clarendon Park, Leicester, on Saturday to sample vegan and vegetarian food.

A number of workshops were also held to teach people about crafts, such as making their own tote bags, and caterers Pocketwala were on hand to feed the hungry masses with healthy Indian food.

Richard Bonfield, resident poet for the Born Free foundation – an organisation which aims to combat animal cruelty – also entertained visitors with readings of his and Pollyanna Pickering's new book Wildness.

Organiser Ann-Marie Harrigan said: "It was a great success, we had more people than we anticipated and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves."

PLEA FOR CALM AFTER PROTESTS

This article appears in today's Leicester Mercury:

Plea for calm after protests

An appeal for calm has been made after an escalation in protests against a Muslim charity's plan to turn a disused building into a community centre.

Up to 400 people took part in a protest on Friday night against the proposal for the former Scout hut in Nursery Road, Thurnby Lodge, Leicester.

A charity, the As-Salaam Trust, whose members have been meeting on the estate for two-and-a-half years, looks likely to take on the building.

But some residents say they would prefer the building, which has not been in full-time use for four years, to be developed for the wider community.

They are also concerned about extra traffic the centre might create.The recent protests have been held outside the estate's main community centre, in Thurncourt Road, where As-Salaam's members meet for prayers.

Protesters said the city council had not asked them for their views on the future use of the Scout hut. Some back a proposal to set up a boxing club and gym in it.

Up to 50 police officers – including some drafted in from other parts of the county – were on duty for Friday night's protest, which was the largest so far.

Earlier in the evening, British National Party leader Nick Griffin made a brief appearance.

Later, a number of men and youngsters were reprimanded by protesters for directing threatening insults at people as they left the community centre after prayers.

Maxine Williams, manager of the Stirrup Cup pub, who has been taking part in the demonstrations and attended a meeting with city mayor Sir Peter Soulsby last week, said outside groups, including the BNP leader, were not welcome.

She said: "Our aim on Friday was to bring out the elderly, families and kids and that's what we did. There will still be protests, but that was the big one.

"We've had one meeting with Sir Peter Soulsby and it was productive. We'll meet him again in a couple of weeks."

However, another resident said: "The protests need to calm down.

People don't seem to realise that the atmosphere there has sometimes been really intimidating and some people have been aggressive."

Assistant city mayor Councillor Sarah Russell said yesterday that Sir Peter would be meeting protesters again in the near future.

Meanwhile, she said, the council was also looking at ways of addressing residents' concerns about potential traffic problems.

Councillor Russell said: "We would urge people to calm things down and communicate their concerns at meetings with us. We are listening to them.

"The boxing club people were not at the point where they could take the Scout hut on, but we are working with them to find them a suitable venue in the area.

"There are facilities in the area, including things for young people to do, and we are happy to work with people there to look at other things we could do."

Mohammed Lockhat, As-Salaam's imam, said earlier this week: "If we could sit down together and talk, we would be able to understand each other better.

"People have said they are concerned about traffic, but most of the people would be walking to the Scout hut because they live here."

The Leicestershire Federation of Muslim Organisations has urged the council to continue speaking to residents to resolve the dispute.

Spokesman Suleman Nagdi said: "The issue has been such that there have been outside influences on the protests which have now grown to an alarming rate.

"Our perception is that these outside forces simply wish to destabilise our harmonious communities."

A Leicestershire Police spokeswoman said on Friday night: "The protests which have taken place in Thurnby Lodge this evening and earlier this week so far have passed without incident and no criminal offences have been committed.

"However, police will continue to monitor the situation."

VIGIL FOR VICTIMS OF WISCONSIN GURDWARA SHOOTINGS

This evening, in Town Hall Square, Leicester Council of Faiths hosts a vigil for the victims and survivors of the shooting at the Gurdwara in Oak Creek Wisconsin, which took place a week ago today. This has been arranged at short notice, without a lot of publicity, but a speedy response seems to have been the most important consideration.

Certainly, word of mouth attracts a decent turnout. At the height of the meeting, which lasts for just over an hour, there are at least 250 people gathered here. The majority are Sikhs, of course, drawn from the seven gurdwaras in Leicester. But there are also many friends, supporters and well-wishers from other faith communities in Leicester as well as observers and sympathisers from no particular belief or tradition. As well as Cllr Manjula Sood, Assistant Mayor and Chair of Leicester Council of Faiths, two other Assistant Mayors are here (Cllr Vi Dempster and Cllr Sarah Russell) and at least two other city councillors.

Representatives of Leicester's Bahá'í, Christian, Hindu, Jewish and Muslim communities spoke at the front of the gathering on the Town Hall steps, where a table was set up with commemorative candles. Jon Ashworth MP (Leicester South) spoke there too. There's no amplification so whatever they say is inaudible from even a few rows back. It's remarkable how loud the fountain in Town Hall Square can be, especially if you're trying to be quiet. But the fact that the speeches and prayers go largely unheard doesn't seem to matter to the crowd. There's a strong atmosphere of mutuality and solidarity, no posturing or rabble rousing. It's all very dignified, friendly and reflective.

I stay at the back, occasionally tweeting and being retweeted by others (e.g. @KaursCorner, @Masjidumar_Leic, @navrupkaur). I take the opportunity at the end to record a quick interview with a young Sikh chap for inclusion in my inter-faith programme on FMO Radio tomorrow morning, which is about how faith communities in Leicester, apart from Muslims, fast. Sikhs don't fast for spiritual purposes, like virtually all other faiths do in some way. Rather than just leave them out of the programme for that reason, I want to include a Sikh talking about why they don't fast. I strike gold with this fellow, who states clearly the reasons why fasting is not part of Sikh belief and practice, but why he himself fasts for reasons of health and fitness. That will make a good end to the programme tomorrow.

Pukaar News has turned out to cover the event: a three-minute video report is on their website. Ambrose Musiyiwa records a number of video interviews and posts these on Civic Leicester's YouTube channel, including interviews with Jon Ashworth MP, Cllr Manjula Sood, Surinderpal Singh Rai (Chair of Guru Tegh Bahadur Gurdwara) and me.

FEDERATION OF MUSLIM ORGANISATIONS' PRESS RELEASE: THURNBY LODGE

Here's the text of a press release issued by the Federation of Muslim Organisations today:

The Federation of Muslim organisations are extremely concerned by recent reports of protests that have been witnessed at a community hall in Thurnby Lodge following its use as a prayer facility by local Muslims. The issue has been such that there have been outside influence on the protests which have now grown to an alarming rate.

It appears that these demonstrations have received support from organisations outside our city. Our perception is that these outside forces simply wish to destabilise our harmonious communities.

The Federation are extremely concerned that these disagreements should not escalate and that we must maintain to keep the stability and harmony in our local community relations. It has urged the Mayor and other key community leaders to intervene and to try to alleviate the concerns that are currently felt by members of the local community in the immediate area.

It is the Federation's ultimate aim that we are not influenced by outside forces and that we maintain the harmony and good community relations that “One Leicester” has enjoyed for many years and that we should all continue in our efforts to live in peace and with understanding and respect.

Suleman Nagdi MBE DL

11 August 2012 

OPEN YOUR MIND TO GREATER POWER

This letter appears in today's Leicester Mercury:

Open your mind to greater power

Having read with interest and may I say a certain surprise, the letters recently dismissing the idea of a Creator, I feel I must contradict these views that there is no God.

Just open your mind and soul and your spiritual eyes to the creative world we live in, and the diversity of animals, plants, trees, birds, fish, the colours of nature, the creativity of the human race, the sun and rain which gives us the conditions to grow our food to sustain life.

There's the free will to choose between good and evil deeds in our life. All life flows from a creative force in humankind.

I believe there is a power greater than ourselves that gave us the world and the life and nature in it to sustain our every need.

Phil Dews, Anstey

OUR PROTESTS OVER HUT SET TO CONTINUE

This letter appears on today's Leicester Mercury:

Our protests over hut set to continue

I write in reply to your article in the Leicester Mercury "Protests staged over faith group plan for building".

Your first paragraph informs your readers of late-night protests. This is not true.

The latest time we have protested would have been in the region of 9pm, as I'm sure the videos the police took of us would bear out.

Other protests were much earlier. Also, another point that's missing from your article is the fact we had a meeting with the council on July 23, in our community centre, only for them to call it off on the grounds of health and safety, because more than 200 people attended, and the centre only holds 120.

Yet, every time I've attended a protest, there are well over 120 worshippers in the centre, with 40 to 50 cars completely filling the car park.

This was mentioned to a police officer, to which he replied, and I quote, "I'm not interested in health and safety, that's the council's problem".

Mohammed Lockhat, the prayer group's Imam, says there should be no concerns about traffic if they acquire the Scout hut for prayer rooms, as most of the people would walk there because they live locally.

That being the case, then why is the community car park overflowing with cars when they worship?

This "community" Scout hut is on a main bus route (classed as an A1 road, due to it's deeper foundations) and surrounded mainly by bungalows for the elderly. None of these people were consulted or asked their views and concerns regarding the prayer rooms.

The council has not followed due process and should be made accountable for the cost of policing these protests, which I am sure is costing us taxpayers an enormous amount of money.

It is only going to cost more, because I can assure you the people of this community will keep protesting until the council make the Scout hut available to the whole of the community.

Patrick McShane, Leicester